Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon

Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon (7 November 1898 – 22 September 1987) was a British peer, the son of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon and Almina Wombwell.

Styled Baron Porchester from birth, he inherited the Earldom of Carnarvon on the 1923 death of his father – who was famously funding archaeologist Howard Carter when he discovered the tomb of Tutenkhamun. The 6th Earl attributed the death of his father to the "Curse of Tutenkhamun", claiming that the moment his father died on 5 April in Egypt, the family dog howled and died a sympathetic death at Highclere Castle, the family seat.^[1] In his memoirs, he described an unloving upbringing by his parents. After his father died, he became responsible for the upkeep of Highclere Castle while his mother refused him an inheritance. She remarried only eight months after the death of her first husband.^[2]

Henry Herbert, 6th Earl of Carnarvon was married twice:

• 1) 1922–1936 (divorced): Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell^[3] (1900-1977), by whom he had one son, the 7th Earl, and one daughter. Anne was the daughter of Jacob Wendell III (ca. 1869–1911) and Marian Fendall (1870), who was in turn the granddaughter of Philip Richard Fendall II (1794–1867), the District Attorney of the District of Columbia. Anne's paternal grandfather was also named Jacob Wendell, a sea captain and merchant. Her uncle Barrett Wendell, who established the Jacob Wendell Scholarship at Harvard, taught English at Harvard between 1885 and 1918.^[4] Anne Wendell's sister Philippa Fendall Wendell married the 12th Earl of Galloway (1892–1978), and was mother of the 13th Earl who had no children.
• 2) 1939–1947 (divorced): the ballet dancer and choreographer, Tilly Losch (15 November 1903 – 24 December 1975), former wife of Edward James.

His obituary by Hugh Massingberd famously described him as a "most uncompromisingly direct ladies' man".^[5]

Publications

Late in life he published two books of memoirs:

• No Regrets: Memoirs of the Earl of Carnarvon (1976).
• Ermine Tales: More Memoirs of the Earl of Carnarvon (1980).

Further reading

• Cross William, Lordy! Tutankhamun's Patron As A Young Man , Book Midden Publishing, 2012 (ISBN 978-1-905914-05-0).
• Cross William, The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon : 5th Countess of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun Fame , 3rd Ed 2011 ( ISBN 978-1-905914-08-1).
• Cross William, Catherine and Tilly: Porchey Carnarvon's Two Duped Wives: The Tragic Tales of the Sixth Countesses of Carnarvon, Book Midden Publishing, 2013 ( ISBN 978-1905914-25-8).

References

1. ↑ See Thomas Hoving, Tutankhamun: The Untold Story, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980, p. 226.
2. ↑ Rennell, Tony (31 December 2011). "How the real life Downton heir plotted to kill his father". Mail Online. Retrieved 2 April 2013. 
3. ↑ Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell
4. ↑ For more on her ancestry, see Ancestry of William Addams Reitwiesner footnotes. Last retrieved 3 April 2009.
5. ↑ "My Mentor: Andrew McKie On Hugh Massingberd", The Independent, 23 January 2006